The acquisition of candle maker Wax Lyrical in May last year lit up the first half for home furnishings company Portmeirion (PMP). Group sales rose by 16 per cent, but strip out the two months of contribution from Wax Lyrical and group revenue increased just 3 per cent. Chief executive Lawrence Bryan said the deal was motivated by customer requests for a candle range, which should feed through to good sales in the second half of the year, and the run-up to Christmas.
Contributions from Wax Lyrical also mean the UK is now the group’s largest geographical market. Sales were up by nearly a third in this region, although without the candle maker revenue here would have fallen slightly due to the phasing of orders. Elsewhere, management said the US, its second-largest market, remains “challenging”, with some orders from 2016 not repeating. Sales fell by 15 per cent at constant currency.
Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald expect pre-tax profit of £8.7m for the year to December 2017, giving EPS of 66.4p, compared with £7.8m and 59.1p in 2016.
| PORTMEIRION GROUP (PMP) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 970p | MARKET VALUE: | £105m | |
| TOUCH: | 960-980p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 998p | LOW: 743p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.5% | PE RATIO: | 21 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 330p* | NET DEBT: | 5% | |
| Half-year to 30 June | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 28.5 | 1.4 | 9.9 | 7.0 |
| 2017 | 33.1 | 1.6 | 11.9 | 7.4 |
| % change | +16 | +18 | +21 | +6 |
| Ex-div: | 07 Sep | |||
| Payment: | 02 Oct | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £13.5m, or 125p a share | ||||
